John Birch Society

American  

noun

1. an ultraconservative organization, founded in December 1958 by Robert Welch, Jr., chiefly to combat alleged Communist activities in the U.S.

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John Birch Society British  

noun

1. politics a fanatical right-wing association organized along semisecret lines to fight Communism

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John Birch Society Cultural  

1. A conservative organization prominent in the 1950s and 1960s. The society was particularly concerned with the dangers of communism, and its views were considered extreme by most Americans.

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Etymology

Origin of John Birch Society

C20: named after John Birch (killed by Chinese communists 1945), American USAF captain whom its members regarded as the first cold-war casualty

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

John Birch Society

Bauer pointed to the John Birch Society, an organization that engaged in paranoia reporting in the 1960s.

From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026

It opens with an interview of Scott Camil, a Brooklyn-born Floridian raised by a cop who was an active John Birch Society member; Camil joined the Marine Corps and served in Vietnam.

From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2025

I think the American Mercury, like the John Birch Society in general and the magazine American Opinion in particular, were real rivals for conservative influence to Buckley and National Review.

From Salon ● Apr. 20, 2024

But the John Birch Society itself is largely forgotten, relegated to a pair of squat buildings along a busy commercial street in small-town Wisconsin.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 21, 2024

In the fifties and sixties the John Birch Society had had a significant membership in Odessa.

From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger